Dog shot in face reunited with owner

Owner thankful dog still alive

A dog owner and his pooch have been reunited a couple weeks after the dog was shot in the face and leg.

"He's just as happy as before," said Jonathan Spiaggi, Chronos' owner. "He lost his leg. He doesn't seem to miss it. I think me and my wife are the only ones that knows it's gone."

Chronos is back with this family after recovering from the gunshot wounds.

He and the other family dog got loose while their owners were at work. Spiaggi and his wife were frantic when they got home and looked all through the night for their pets.

They looked online and saw Animal Care and Protective Services picked up their female dog, but Chronos was still missing.

"They told us that (the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office) had picked up another dog right around the same time that might be my dog and got shot," Spiaggi said.

Veterinarians at the Jacksonville Humane Society Animal Hospital treated a dog that was shot in the face.

"These are our children -- me and my wife, these are our kids, all we care about in this world, and if somebody would do that to their child, it's unspeakable," Spiaggi said.

Chronos lost a lot of blood but was lucky because the shot just missed his eye, grazing his face and landing in his upper arm. The Humane Society had to amputate his leg because of the damage from the gun shot.

"He looked rough when we first saw him," Spiaggi said. "They had already amputated his leg off, so we weren't so angry or upset anymore because we we were happy he was alive."

A neighbor on Anvil Road in Arlington, the street over from Chronos' home, called police after hearing a gunshot followed by a dog yelping. Officers found a large pool of blood in the street and followed the blood trail. They discovered Chronos lying near the side of a house. An officer with Animal Care and Protective Services brought the dog to the Humane Society for treatment.

"When he does get better, we're going to go ahead and walk him over to that street and knock on a couple doors, see if we can't find out who did call so we can tell them thank you for saving my dog's life," Spiaggi said.

As far as getting around, Chronos has adjusted just fine.

"It's been absolutely no different," Spiaggi said. "He's still been walking around, jumping on the bed, climbing over the furniture, walks around the house whining all day like he's always done."

Vet bills were more than $900, but Spiaggi is just happy his dog's alive.

"Payments and what not, they went above and beyond what we could ever have asked them to do for us 'cause they saved our dog and gave us our dog back," Spiaggi said.

Spiaggi is focusing on getting Chronos healthy but hopes investigators find out who shot his dog.

"I just hope he's able to get found and prosecuted as much as he could get prosecuted," Spiaggi said. "It's an unspeakable act."

If you know anything about the shooting, call Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.

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